1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip component feeding apparatus in which chip components accommodated in bulk are transported in alignment and the foremost chip component is fed to a predetermined take-out position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto known as one disclosing such a type of chip component feeder is Japanese Patent Laid-open Pub. No. Hei6-232596.
The chip component feeder disclosed in the publication comprises an accommodation box for accommodating a multiplicity of chip components in bulk, a component take-in tube vertically movably inserted into the bottom surface of the accommodation box, a mechanism for raising and lowering the component take-in tube, a component transport tube extending below in communication with the component take-in tube, a belt arranged at the terminal end of the component transport tube for transporting chip components discharged from the component transport tube to a predetermined direction, a mechanism for intermittently moving the belt at a predetermined pitch, a cover with a passage for aligning the chip components being transported on the belt, and a stopper for stopping the chip components being transported in alignment along the passage.
In this chip component feeder, the component take-in tube is moved up and down to load one by one the chip components within the accommodation box into the component take-in tube in a predetermined orientation, and thus the chip components are discharged onto the belt through the component transport tube and transported in alignment by the belt toward the stopper. After the chip components transported in alignment have been stopped by the stopper, the stopper is displaced forward to separate the stopper from the foremost chip component supplied to the take-out position.
Incidentally, in the chip component feeder described above, the curvature of the component transport tube itself allows the chip components passing through the bore of the component transport tube to change its posture from the longitudinal to the transverse orientation, then the chip components having changed its posture are discharged onto the belt.
However, the chip components to be handled by this type of chip component feeder are small in size and extremely light in weight per each, and therefore it is difficult to ensure the smooth movement of the chip components by use of the above component transport tube, that is, the component transport tube whose bore does not have a certain curvature. In the case of handling chip components having greater dimensions of length in particular, entanglement or clogging may possibly occur among the chip components in motion or at a boundary between the component transport tube and the belt, making it difficult to perform a desired discharge of components without troubles.